De Lille and DA arrogance to blame for water crisis

The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) said it was time for South Africans to acknowledge that Cape Town Mayor, Patricia de Lille, was squarely to blame for the water crisis that had emerged at that Metro.

The criticism comes in the wake of an announcement, by the City of Cape Town, that a new drought levy would be implemented in 2018, with the view to raising in the region of half a billion rand. It has been envisaged that this levy will be implemented until 2021.

Councillor for the FF Plus at the City of Cape Town, Erika Botha-Rossouw, said it had become blatant that locals were being punished for something that was clearly the fault of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the City of Cape Town.

Botha-Rossouw said the latest development was in contravention of the accepted principle that consumers must pay for what they use. Now Capetonians have to pay because they don't use.

The FF Plus voted against the levy. The party said the DA had ample opportunity to prepare for this crisis, adding that the De Lille administration had been too arrogant to accept the advice being offered to it.

"The warning and suggestions were ignored and shrugged off. Coincidentally, that is exactly what the DA is planning to do now in an attempt to address the crisis," said Botha-Rossouw.

"They have actually not yet started to do anything – at this critical stage, all they have are plans," added Botha-Rossouw.

Making reference to a council meeting that was held in October last year, Botha-Rossouw said she asked De Lille to furnish details on what the city's plans were, in the face of a looming water crisis. Botha-Rossouw said De Lille had no answers then, adding that she does not have any answers now.

"De Lille's shocking and condescending answer was that I must be from another planet as Cape Town did not have a water crisis," said Botha-Rossouw.

"The time has come for De Lille and the DA to stand up and take full responsibility for the crisis. But instead of that happening, the already heavily-taxed residents are now being punished."